2023 has been an extremely busy 12 months for Hawkesbury spirit-crafters Karu Distillery. Since Hills to Hawkesbury Community News final talked with Karu in March, they have continued to rack up acclaim worldwide for their high-quality merchandise.
Their world-class Morita Chipotle Vodka emerged as the only platinum spirit within the Infused/Flavoured Vodka category on the latest Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards; their three different signature drinks additionally took house platinum scores. Their lately debuted Orsa Coffee Gin liqueur took house Best Liqueur and Best in Show on the Tasting Australia Spirit, and the Distillery gained a Hawkesbury Business Award and was a finalist in the Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards.
For Karu’s head distiller Ally Ayres, who founded the Distillery in 2018 together with her husband Nick, says this yr being Karu’s busiest thus far has also made it top-of-the-line. She says: “We’ve taken on more staff, we’ve got a warehouse in Richmond now, we’re producing more spirits – and we’re in a place to get back on the market after not having the ability to for therefore lengthy prior to now four years!”
Orsa is one other spirit from Karu that might only be made within the Hawkesbury, thanks to a collaboration with Darren Gerbasch’s Little Coffee Co within the Blue Mountains. “We met Darren at a tourism beverage trail meeting a few years in the past, and he’s just as captivated with espresso as we are spirits. We approached him and we asked him to teach us a bit about coffee expertise. KARU Delivering Quality Community Spirits made a customized brew for us, and it was two or three months of R&D from significantly getting began with it to where Orsa is at present.”
Karu Distillery Delivering Quality Community Spirits
Head distiller ally ayres with karu merchandise and awards
Although the Karu team have been travelling throughout the country and amassing awards on the worldwide stage, they’ve continued to highly value the role of the neighborhood of their success. “Because Orsa was very a lot a collaboration of native companies, it’s been well obtained by the neighborhood – and we love to do these types of things,” says Ally. “It’s really cool that after the quantity of stuff the neighborhood and industry has gone via the last couple of years, we’ve been able to get the spark again a bit and produce something that’s really a group spirit!”
Reflecting on the 12 months that’s gone by, Ally has been able to find plenty of pleasure among the many busyness. “We’ve had more events than usual, more distillation and ferment days, extra barrels than ordinary – and we’re having a real fun time with that. We’re getting again on the market and cementing Australia as a place of high quality and having the medals and trophies to show that. It’s been actually good!”
Ally, Nick and the Karu team have been hard at work creating loads of spirits for the holiday season, while additionally planning a selection of other products for 2024. Keep updated with the world-class native Distillery right here: https://www.facebook.com/KaruDistillery
To hear extra from Ally about Orsa, regulate our web site and Facebook for a video interview coming within the next week.